The Lost Tablets are a series of works by Jan van Schaik that explore the geometric language of architecture through the medium of children’s building blocks. Constructed by van Schaik from found blocks (many bearing the teeth marks of their former owners), each tablet flickers with strange resonances that point to a shared but deeply subjective symbolism of building.

Within the book, 50 authors respond to the first 50 works in the Lost Tablets series, with each author articulating their perception of one work, in their own language, and in a form corresponding to their own interests. The authors are economists, songwriters, comedians, artists, curators, architects, linguists, sex workers, journalists, historians, lawyers, writers, philosophers, designers, poets, jewellers, educators, cyberneticians, students, and therapists.